Current Events in the Americas

Argentina planned to blow up warship in Gibraltar during the Falklands War By Graham Keeley in Barcelona Published: 04 April 2007 TheIndependent It was a spy story with a plot out of James Bond. During the Falklands War, Argentina planned to blow up a British warship in Gibraltar. The main protagonist was a former left-wing guerrilla turned spy who specialised in mine attacks on warships. A Spanish film-maker, Jesus Mora, has made a documentary about Operation Algeciras. For many years, no one in authority would admit the plot existed but Mora got the former Spanish prime minister Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo and the chief of the Argentine navy at the time, Admira…

Developed because the fighter-bomber shortage, and implementing the pending introduction of F-35C: http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a26833/us-navy-approves-boeings-f-1-8/

Why the Navy Wants More Growlers (USNI News)

From Air Force Times New tanker named but still not selected By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer Posted : Monday Dec 17, 2007 7:14:43 EST The Air Force doesn’t know who is going to build the KC-X tanker, but the service has decided what to call the jet. Drum roll, please. The KC-X is designated KC-45A. While the service didn’t make a formal announcement about the KC-45A naming, the designation has started to appear in briefings given by Air Force officials and a service spokesman confirmed the name. Technically, KC-45A is the tanker’s mission design series name. The “KC” designates the jet as a tanker. Why “45A” was chosen isn’t clear, other than it does…

From Defense Aerospace [excerpt] CV32: Flight III will start with John Finn (DDG 113).

From Defense Aerospace F-22A Crash Claims Life of Edwards Pilot (Source: US Air Force; issued March 25, 2009) EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --- An Air Force F-22A crash March 25 near here claimed the life of an Air Force veteran and Lockheed Martin test pilot. David Cooley, 49, of Palmdale, Calif., died when the F-22A he was piloting crashed northeast of the base here. Mr. Cooley worked as a test pilot with Lockheed Martin, and was employed at the 411th Flight Test Squadron, 412th Test Wing, on Edwards. Mr. Cooley joined Lockheed Martin in 2003 and was a 21-year veteran of the Air Force. He worked at the F-22 Combined Test Force, where a team of Lockheed…

Man, what is the Navy coming to? From Military.com today:http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-tops-2010-with-18th-co-firing.html?ESRC=navy.nl Buddha

An alternative for Canada ... from CASR [excerpt]

From USNI Proceedings, Oct 2011 [excerpt]

JFK Overhaul Work Stopped By WILLIAM H. MCMICHAEL Defense News The Navy has canceled a scheduled $335 million overhaul of the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, a move that likely cements plans to inactivate or decommission the flattop and reduce the Navy’s formidable carrier fleet from 12 to 11. The Navy emphasized it has not firmed up its ultimate plans for the Mayport, Fla.-based Kennedy, to the disappointment of Florida’s congressional delegation and proponents of a 12-carrier Navy. “The final decision on the ship’s decommissioning and inactivation status is still pending,” said Lt. Chris Servello, a Navy spokesman. The Navy, however, had long plann…

From DefenseNews Northrop Wins U.S. Navy Unmanned Strike Aircraft Competition By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS Northrop Grumman has beaten a Boeing team as the Navy’s choice to develop the Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) — intended to prove the technology to provide the fleet’s aircraft carriers with a long-range pilotless jet strike aircraft. The award of a $636 million cost-plus-incentive-fee development contract was announced by the Navy late Aug. 1. The competition to develop the aircraft — also known as UCAS-N, for UCAS-Navy — was between Boeing’s X-45N and Northrop Grumman’s X-47B test aircraft. Northrop now will be the prime contractor t…

From Flight International DATE: 23/12/08 SOURCE: Flightglobal.com US Navy mulls slashing F-35C orders next year By Stephen Trimble The US Navy has disclosed it may cut as many as three out of four carrier variant aircraft from next year's batch of orders for Lockheed Martin F-35s. Any cuts would reduce the overall number of F-35s ordered in the fourth lot of low rate initial production (LRIP-4) from 32 to as low as 29. The US Air Force and the US Marine Corps still intend to buy 13 F-35As and 15 F-35Bs, respectively, according to an acquisition notice posted yesterday. But the first batch of F-35Cs purchased during the LRIP phase could vary from …

From Flight International DATE: 03/04/09 SOURCE: Flight International Brazilian fighter programme ready to fly By Rebecca Barrett Financial constraints and an unwillingness to commit investment impeded Brazil's first attempt at a fighter programme. But the age of its fighter fleet now threatens the nation's security to the point that the government's back is against the wall and it has been forced to respond. Fortunately for Brazil, it appears that the pieces necessary to complete the project are in place. Years of strong economic growth will be the backbone of support for Project FX-2. The programme will offer Brazil a capital return on its investment …

From Defense Aerospace Air Force Command Pre-Selects Candidates for F-X2 Project (Source: Brazilian Ministry of Defence; issued Oct. 1, 2008) (Issued in Portuguese; unofficial translation by defense-aerospace.com) The Air Force Command has announced that, as specified in the plan for the renewal of the combat aircraft fleet of the Força Aérea Brasileira (FAB), it has completed an initial step in the selection process of new multirole fighters. The Management Committee of the Project F-X2 (CGPF-X2), instituted on May 15, 2008, led the evaluation studies of the preselected aircraft (Boeing F-18E/F Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Ma…

LCS: Navy Pushes Back Against Criticisms (Breaking Defense)

From Defense Aerospace Small Diameter Bomb Makes Combat Debut (Source: US Air Force; issued Oct. 5, 2006) SOUTHWEST ASIA --- The Guided Bomb Unit-39/B small diameter bomb was flown into combat for the first time Oct. 5 by members of the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. The unit, deployed to the Southwest Asia area of operations, launched a two-ship formation of F-15E Strike Eagles at 1:30 a.m. EDT carrying the new air-to-ground bomb on a mission to provide close-air support for ground troops operating in Iraq. "Today, we added an extraordinary capability to our warfighter's arsenal," said Lt. Gen. Gary L. North, the Combined Forces Air Component …

To Save the Submarines, Eliminate ICBMs and Bombers (Defense One)

From Aviation Week Next decade's AF bomber to be subsonic, manned Michael Fabey/Aerospace Daily & Defense Report The U.S. Air Force's long-range strike aircraft set to be deployed by 2018 will be subsonic and manned, said Brig. Gen. Mark Matthews, director of plans and programs, headquarters, Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force Base, Va. But it would be wrong to characterize the aircraft as being entirely devoid of current technology, Matthews said May 1 during a panel discussion "Return of the Bomber: The Future of Long Range Strike," presented by the Eaker Institute, the research arm of the Air Force Association (AFA). "There is new technology ass…

From Flight Global [excerpt]

Defendant testifies in Aegis secrets trial By Gillian Flaccus - The Associated Press Posted : Wednesday May 2, 2007 7:26:11 EDT SANTA ANA, Calif. — A Chinese-American engineer accused of conspiring to export defense technology materials to China took the witness stand in his federal trial Tuesday and denied he was trying to give information to the Chinese government. Defense attorney Ronald Kaye immediately asked defendant Chi Mak about three computer disks containing material presented at technical conferences, including a paper on a propulsion system called quiet electric drive that is intended to reduce the ability to detect submarines. “Did you give t…